I’m absolutely over the moon to announce that my work has been shortlisted in no less than 3 categories for the Saboteur 2019 UK Spoken Word Awards. I’ve been listed for Best Spoken Word Performer in the UK, Word Wise has been listed for ‘Best Regular Spoken Word Night’ and ‘Man Up’ by Restoke has been listed for ‘Best Collaborative Work’. We’d be wholeheartedly grateful if you could vote for these projects using this form: https://form.jotformeu.com/91033853215350

Reciting the We Are Derby poem to over 400 pupils @ Lawn Primary School

Ayup people!

So 2019 has definitely gotten off to a bang! I’ve been rushed off my boots with lots of education work. This includes my first ever requested encore in a school assembly to over 400 kids, who were chanting along to my We Are Derby Poem (See photo above). I’ve also enjoyed being one of the lead writers visiting schools on behalf of SLAMJAM in Lincolnshire. I’ve also recently been involved in the This Is Derby project on behalf of the wonderful team at Deda. I also held a series of workshops as a visiting lecturer at both Keele and Derby Universities.

The next instalment of last year’s ACE funded Travelling Band project (Constell8) is also off to a start! Keep checking back for more dates on that one! In March I put out a new live video for my poem COBWEBS from the February UNISLAM victory which has been getting some good reactions over social media, check it out here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eKs596bNhU4&t=94s There’s also some footage of me reading some new material that was recorded live @ Side Gallery for the Small Town Inertia exhibition in Newcastle back in January, Link here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zExJzq05NGs&t=348s

I’m lucky enough to have had my new show accepted for a week-long run at Edinburgh Fringe Festival with the fantastic people at Laughing Horse. Our Man will feature from Monday 19th until Sunday 25th August at the aptly named Raging Bull from 6:00 PM each night. The show is made up of poems from my next collection of the same title that is due to be published through Burning Eye Books in July. The self-titled poem was published recently in the Morning Star newspaper and can be read here: https://morningstaronline.co.uk/article/c/poetry-picketline-our-man-1

It’s a lovely article from Codnor Community Primary School’s newsletter from last year. It’s great to see the school celebrating the work of their year 4 pupil who attended my workshop at Derby Museum last June and created a stunning poem.

I’m available for work in schools and educational institutions this year so be sure to get in touch ASAP as my diary is filling up fast. Contact me on: info@thras.com

I’m thrilled to report that the year has started in style as my ace University slam poetry team-mates and I, managed to finish FIRST PLACE in the 2019 UNISLAM finals. We saw off another 24 universities in what was a completely enjoyable and gruelling experience in equal measure. The standard of poetry was second-to-none and I firstly want to give a huge shoutout to our fellow finalists: Strathclyde, Durham, and Leeds Universities who finished 2nd, 3rd, and 4th respectively. Also a massive shoutout to all the other teams involved with particular mentions to: Leeds Becket, UEA, Derby (of course), Leicester DMU, Loughborough, Bath Spa and Sheffield, whom we all particularly bonded with over the weekend. Massive hats off to Toby Campion and his team of willing volunteers, judges, and hosts who truly made it a great event. The picture above is taken from the Grand Finals at the Old Rep Theatre in Birmingham, prior to our victory; hence my moody expression. Look out for us as we’ll be back performing at the Old Rep Theatre on Saturday 16th Feb, as well as the Hammer & Tongues final @ The Royal Albert Hall next year!

In other news I’ve been back at work at HMP Foston Hall and I’m happy to say we have some new group members who’ve been a pleasure to work with. Their poetry never ceases to amaze me and I look forward to more slick bars being presented. I’m also happy to announce that my next book and show Our Man is still on course for a July release via the wonderful people at Burning Eye Books I’m very proud of this one, expect a plethora of live dates around its release (more about this in due course). For now though I’m happy to confirm dates at The Chesterfields Labour Club on March 2nd and also cracking the seal on The Cheltenham Poetry Festival on April 25th! (see live page for details). There’s also some videos from my Pride Park performance back in December, which are linked underneath the picture below! I’ll also add them to the videos section! There’ll be a new studio version of We Are Derby along shortly with a stinking new video. I’ve not forgotten you Rams fans. Expect to hear my gob on Radio Derby’s Sportscene in the not-so-distant future as well! There’s also a nice review of my 2017 debut poetry collection The Best Of A Bad Situation from Write Out Loud head over to the review section to see that.

So on Monday 17th December I was invited by Derby County FC to recite my poem ‘We Are Derby’ live at Pride Park Stadium for the East Midlands Derby between Derby County & Nottingham Forest. Here’s a photo of me sound-checking the Friday before.

I’m happy to say I survived the onslaught of the Forest fans & smashed the poem out word-for-word. To perform to that many people provided a ridiculous buzz & I can’t thank the Rams fans enough for the gratitude they’ve shown for the poem. There’s a video of me performing it on the pitch at the game to follow so keep your eyes peeled for that. I also have reason to believe that this makes me the first ever poet to read at an East Midlands Derby, as well as many other possible claims to accolade! I’ve begun my investigations so I’ll keep you updated as to when my notoriety is confirmed 😉

I’m also happy to announce that my first date of 2019 is an opening for the exhibition of J. A. Mortram’s Small-Town-Inertia exhibition @The Fantastic Side Gallery in Newcastle.

In other news: I’m happy to say that I’ll be teaming up with a load more great artists for the second phase of the Ace-funded Travelling band project; ‘Constellations’ will start in 2019 so keep your eyes peeled for that.

As I undertake the final year of my MA studies, I’ll also be performing as part of the University of Birmingham Slam poetry team in the Unislam finals in February.

I’m not even gonna apologies for a lack of blog posts-life has simply got in the way!

2018 in short has been great!

The year’s highlights included a sell-out run of shows for the production of ‘Man-Up’, which I worked on with Restoke. A film of the production is forthcoming, hit this link for more info: https://www.restoke.org.uk/man-up/

I also got asked by my beloved Derby County FC to write a new motivational poem at the request of none other than Frank Lampard. The poem ‘We Are Derby’ has been featured on the big screen at Pride Park at every home game since 21st August! I’ll post a link to the Steve Bloomer’s washing podcast of me reading the poem in the video/audio section of this website. Here’s an interview I did with Owen Bradley for RAMS TV here: https://www.dcfc.co.uk/news/2018/09/meet-the-local-poet-behind-we-are-derby

I’ve been mostly writing new material, working on a novel, doing my MA, teaching workshops and also being a Dad so I’ve not been giving much love to the live circuit. However we had our first Word Wise of the year last Friday which was ace. It was a pleasure to bring JB Barrington and Jim Higo to the city to perform for the first time; big thanks to all of you who attended! February’s Word Wise will see Mark ‘Mace’ Smith and Alice Short. It will take place on the last Saturday (24th February) instead of the last Friday!

In terms of my own live shows; I’m very happy to be appearing at the amazing Verve Poetry Festival at Waterstones in Birmingham on the 18th February alongside my poetry fam-a-lam Salena Godden, Matt Abbott and Maria Ferguson. I’ll also have some bits coming up towards the summer that I’ll announce in due course.

The first print-run of my collection The Best Of A Bad Situation SOLD OUT!!! So Silhouette Press have sent off for the second edition. You can buy it here:

For me 2018 is all about pushing myself as a writer and working on as many projects as possible.

I’m really excited to be a part of Bloque Capitals and we’ll be dropping a new tune very soon with a video etc. I’m working on 3 separate poetry collections, as well as the novel, and also a collaborative piece with the excellent Matthew Clegg. I’ve been made an ambassador of the charity POETS IN who work to deliver Creative Writing Workshops in Prisons and rehabilitation centres. I’m also the lead writer and Spoken Word artist on the Man-Up project working for the excellent RESTOKE. I’m also getting more and more work in terms of the education stuff so as you can see I’ve got my hands full.

I’m gonna make a concerted effort to blog a little bit more but don’t hold it against me if I don’t achieve this!

I’ve Only got a few more shows left this year then I’m pretty much on lockdown until Verve Festival in February. Other than my monthly Word Wise commitments (which features a rather awesome line-up in January that I’ll announce at a later date) I’ll be taking a break from performing and will be taking an even longer break after that to get a new set of material together and focus on other projects and commitments. So far this year I’ve done 64 gigs; by the end of the year I’ll have done over 70. This doesn’t include all of my educational performances, workshops in schools, prisons, referral units, colleges, universities community projects.

I’d like to think I’m seeing the year out on a high though. In a few hours a have the pleasure of hosting Tony Walsh a.k.a. Longfella Poet at the opening event of the first ever Derby Poetry Festival. I’ll also be hosting one of my biggest influences in terms of my poetry in the Master Dub Poet Linton Kwesi Johnson.

I feel grateful for the progress I’ve made over the last year but I’m always striving to move forward and develop as an artist, that’s why I’ll be going out on a high this year!

One of my poems ‘ANYWHERE STREET DE1’ was put with some music by a great producer based in Belfast called Bloque Capitals. It got played on BBC Introducing Ulster, a few weeks back; the link can be found here: http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b09d3hjz